What was the first thing you remember when the war started?
I did not live in Seoul at that time. I lived in Daegu, so you know that the NK attacked our country right and that sparked the war. After that around 1 month or something, they came to Daegu. After that I escaped to Busan. But UNFORTUNATELY I did not see the war actually taking place. I did not actually see them firing those guns at each other. I was 14 and very young so I did not actually go to the actual site of the war. North Korea and South Korea, they are one, how did it feel like to fight with your people?
The thing is I was very young so I did not have any personal feelings on this, I was young so I was scared and since my parents were here, I was just scared, even though we were the same people, I could not rightfully judge them because at that time I was too young. These days we have a VERY bad relationship with NK, what do you think about it?
It’s very complicated, there was especially the Yeonpyeong island incident and NK attacked for the 2nd time, so right now as a grandma this is not just our problem but it is the world’s problem. They’re the ones who attacked us when we didn’t do anything. but its not like they attacked us a lot, they just attacked so they could fear us. You do know that there is going to be a war and what do you have to say to us becoming one.
I don’t know, we are going to be one country in the end. Just like how East and West Germany became one, we will become one country but for now we don’t know. In the future, sometime in the future it will happen, we can never tell when it will happen. Have you seen an American at that time? What were they like?
I have seen them especially when I was running away. After we ran away to Busan, Americans started to come and live with us. They were also very kind to us.
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Reflections
Through this interview I was able to learn a lot of things mostly the fact of what a typical Korean at that time period would think of this. When the North Koreans attacked us, far away in Daegu, Jang Jung Ja, did not think that it was that big of a deal. But as they started to go down and down and down, she started to realize the danger of this war and they ran away. Although she did not directly see the war we can conclude that she was very upset at this as her sadness on how suddenly North Korea attacked without any warning twice and both times claiming that we attacked first. Although the interviewee was not present at the battlefield and was not subjected to the horrors that had occurred,
My Grandma:Jang Jung Ja Age 14 on the 6.25 war
Movie
Interview Questions
What is your name and how old were you?
Jang Jung Ja, I was 14 years old when it happenedWhat was the first thing you remember when the war started?
I did not live in Seoul at that time. I lived in Daegu, so you know that the NK attacked our country right and that sparked the war. After that around 1 month or something, they came to Daegu. After that I escaped to Busan. But UNFORTUNATELY I did not see the war actually taking place. I did not actually see them firing those guns at each other. I was 14 and very young so I did not actually go to the actual site of the war.North Korea and South Korea, they are one, how did it feel like to fight with your people?
The thing is I was very young so I did not have any personal feelings on this, I was young so I was scared and since my parents were here, I was just scared, even though we were the same people, I could not rightfully judge them because at that time I was too young.
These days we have a VERY bad relationship with NK, what do you think about it?
It’s very complicated, there was especially the Yeonpyeong island incident and NK attacked for the 2nd time, so right now as a grandma this is not just our problem but it is the world’s problem. They’re the ones who attacked us when we didn’t do anything. but its not like they attacked us a lot, they just attacked so they could fear us.
You do know that there is going to be a war and what do you have to say to us becoming one.
I don’t know, we are going to be one country in the end. Just like how East and West Germany became one, we will become one country but for now we don’t know. In the future, sometime in the future it will happen, we can never tell when it will happen.
Have you seen an American at that time? What were they like?
I have seen them especially when I was running away. After we ran away to Busan, Americans started to come and live with us. They were also very kind to us.
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=
Reflections
Through this interview I was able to learn a lot of things mostly the fact of what a typical Korean at that time period would think of this. When the North Koreans attacked us, far away in Daegu, Jang Jung Ja, did not think that it was that big of a deal. But as they started to go down and down and down, she started to realize the danger of this war and they ran away. Although she did not directly see the war we can conclude that she was very upset at this as her sadness on how suddenly North Korea attacked without any warning twice and both times claiming that we attacked first. Although the interviewee was not present at the battlefield and was not subjected to the horrors that had occurred,